Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has claimed that his ambitious underground tunnel network under Las Vegas should be fully operational by 2020. Musk's tunnel-digging business, called The Boring Company, recently secured a huge contract to build a network of tunnels that would link Las Vegas's various attractions and convention centers.
Musk initially proposed the idea of digging tunnels under major American cities to alleviate traffic seemingly as a joke back in 2016. However, Musk was apparently very serious about his idea; so much so that he officially launched his tunnel-digging company with the intention of building a network of underground tunnels across major cities in the United States.
In a tweet posted on Friday, Musk revealed that the Boring Company is on course to complete its first commercial tunnel in Las Vegas. The tunnel, which will connect the Last Vegas Convention Center to the Las Vegas Strip, will apparently be the primary focus of the Boring Company before it takes on other projects.
When asked about Musk's claims, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority stated that the businessman's statement was in line with what was discussed under its deal with the Boring Company. Both companies apparently agreed that the underground tunnel network should become fully operational in time for the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show.
The Las Vegas underground network will be comprised of two separate tunnels, each about a mile in length. Traveling through the tunnels will be Tesla autonomous electric vehicles that will be traveling up to 155 miles per hour. Without any traffic, intersection, or obstructions, the vehicles can travel without any need for human input at very high speeds.
Analysts have pointed out that Musk's latest claim could just be a rough estimate and isn't to be taken as an official date of completion. Musk has been known to sometimes exaggerate the progress of his projects. Back in March, Musk claimed that his Boring Company should be able to complete its digging of the tunnels before the end of 2019. However, it was later found out that the company actually only began digging under Las Vegas in November.
In 2018, the Boring Company was able to successfully dig a tunnel in Hawthorne, California. The underground tunnel was used as a testing bed for Musk's more ambitious Hyperloop project, which uses electric-powered "pods" that zip through vacuum-sealed tunnels at up to 600 miles per hour. Musk has yet to come close to reaching his claimed top speeds, but his company was able to drive a Tesla Model X through the tunnel at a more modest speed of 35 miles per hour.
